worth the pain

Summary:
Set about 6 months after the fateful 18th Birthday party from New Moon, the Cullens have left. A horrible tragedy strikes the Cullens. Can Bella help the remaining members heal? Bella/Jasper, Rosalie/Emmett.

Notes:

9. chapter 9

JPOV
The rest of our week in Forks passed in a blur. We packed a mountain of boxes. Rose & Emmett rented a U-Haul and left 2 days before Bella and I, so that they could have the basics done at the Hanover house before we arrived.
The night before our departure, Bella asked Charlie, Sue, Leah, & Seth to meet us for dinner at the diner in town. She wanted them to see how happy she was with me and have a chance to tell them goodbye since we wouldn't be able to come visit until Christmas at the soonest. The dinner went well. Leah was able to be civil to me and Seth was downright friendly. I was glad the pack seemed so content to continue our pleasant relationship. After all, we had never given them any reason to fear our motives or us.
At the end of the evening, I saw Bella to the car and turned to get in myself, when Charlie stopped me. He reached out and grabbed my arm. "Listen, Jasper, take care of her, OK? For some reason, it feels like she belongs to you more than me, now. I love her, so just take care of her, OK?" he said. "Of course, Charlie. I love Bella very much and I will never let anything hurt her again. You have my word on it." I replied sending a wave of sincerity to him. He glanced at me and nodded. "OK, well, drive safe, then," he replied and with a quick wave he climbed into his truck and was gone.
I could feel her sadness when I started the engine. So, I reached over and squeezed her fingers gently. She smiled at me with her eyes full of unshed tears. "I'm OK, Jaz. I'll just miss him. He'll be OK, though. He has a new life with Sue," she murmured. I nodded and smoothly pulled away from the curb and headed back to spend our last night in the home that held so many memories for us both.
The next morning, we locked the doors, grabbed our last few bags and headed towards our new life without a backwards glance.
It was still pretty early when we set out, so Bella curled up against the window with a pillow and dozed for the first few hours of our trip. Being the selfish monster that I am, though, I decided to wake her up after about the 4th hour of driving by turning on the radio to a country station and singing along, loudly. She laughed, seeing through my ruse, and stretched lithely. "OK, Jaz, are you lonely, honey?" she asked sweetly. I grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Yep, darlin', I missed you." I replied.
The next ten hours passed in a blur of conversation and bad radio karaoke. Surprisingly, Bella had diverse taste in music and knew many of the country songs I favored. We stopped a few times for her to have "human moments" and to grab snacks for the car and just generally enjoyed each other's company. Eventually, I could feel her exhaustion and her desire to fight it, so I told her "Bella, it's OK. Go to sleep. When you wake up, we'll be at the new house. We have all the time in the world to be together." With a content sigh, she nodded and slept.
"Bella, darlin', wake up." I called "We're almost there." It was early the next morning and I wanted her to get the full effect of the home we were going to be living in for the next several years.
"Mmmm, OK, Jaz." she mumbled. Stretching, she sat up and gazed out the window.
"Oh. My. God. Jasper, this is amazing! When you said the family had a little home in Hanover already, I expected a small flat or something, not this incredible Victorian mansion!" she exclaimed.
Chuckling, I asked "Do you like it, Bella?" "Honey, I love it!" she replied. "Good, because I never want you to have a moments unhappiness again if I can prevent it." I replied seriously, taking her hand in mine and squeezing it gently. "Jasper, life is good and bad. You can't protect me from everything, but I love you for wanting to." She responded with a tiny hitch in her voice. Smiling, I gently squeezed her hand again and parked the car in the driveway. "Well, let's go check it out, shall we?" I asked.
The rest of the day was spent in a blur of unpacking and reuniting with Rose & Emmett. As night fell, Bella padded into the kitchen to make something to eat. I sat at the counter content to watch her.
"Jasper?" she asked. "Yes, Bella?" I replied, wondering why she was hesitant. "Nothing, never mind." She flushed, embarrassed. "Bella, you can ask me anything, you know that." I prodded, rising to encircle her with my arms from behind and nuzzling her neck gently. "Well, I was just going to ask if you would mind if I just shared a room with you. I mean, you don't have to, if you want your own space or whatever. I just thought…" I stopped her with my lips on hers, hard. I was overcome in that moment with my love for her. This beautiful innocent woman wanted to be with me and share everything with me. How could I refuse her? I wanted nothing more than to spend every moment with her, too. I broke off the kiss and replied huskily "Bella, eat your supper and then come upstairs to our room. I'll move your things now."